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Turkish Foreign Minister Says Geneva Meeting on Syria 'Extremely Efficient'

ANKARA (Sputnik) - The meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Syria in Geneva was extremely effective, and the three guarantor countries of the Syrian settlement will continue to work together with the UN to form a Syrian constitutional committee, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Chavusoglu said Tuesday.
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"Today’s meeting is a sign of how important the Astana and Sochi process is for a political solution in Syria and that it has begun to produce concrete results. In this regard, today's meeting was extremely effective," Cavusoglu said, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency.

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The parties expect the first meeting of the Syrian constitutional committee in the first month of next year, and there is no disagreement between them on the list of candidates for the committee, submitted by Damascus and the Syrian opposition, he said.

"However, there may be different opinions on candidates from civil society. As guarantor states, we are working together with the UN on this issue," the minister said.

He added that during the meeting, in addition to the candidates, the rules for the work of the constitutional committee were discussed.

"We are gradually moving towards the finish line," Cavusoglu concluded.

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On Tuesday, Geneva hosted a meeting of Russia's Sergey Lavrov, Turkey's Cavusoglu and Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif on Syria, joined by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who initiated this meeting.

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The guarantors of the Astana process did not announce the composition of the Syrian constitutional committee nor did they officially declare its creation in a statement following Tuesday's meeting in Geneva.

The statement, which Lavrov read out, stresses that Russia, Turkey and Iran presented to de Mistura "the positive results of their consultations with the Syrian parties on the composition of the constitutional committee." The document also notes that the guarantor countries agreed to undertake efforts to convene the first meeting of the Syrian constitutional committee in Geneva in early 2019.

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